Today your kitchen table, tomorrow the world

My neighbour turned her passion for healthy pet food into a burgeoning business that has found customers in the US, Germany and France. Her business is only a year old and she has spent much of that time fine-tuning organic food for dogs including dog treats and biscuits.

Naoko Okamoto has been in Australia for nearly a decade and spent much of that time in "office jobs" until she decided on a career change. She combined her love for her dog Douglas with her interest in natural ingredients and has also incorporated Japanese principles of healthy eating to create the pet food. After initial tests on Douglas, the nutritional value of her recipes were confirmed by a vet.

Okamoto's growth is a lesson in innovation, largely driven by customers.

Responding to demand
Although she began with food her own dog likes, her product range grew because of specific requests from customers. An increasing number of dog owners who want their pets to be vegetarian drove the creation of a vegetarian range. Now, as awareness has grown for Chew Chew products, cat owners are constantly asking her for a cat version.

Most of this innovation happens right on her kitchen table. She formulates recipes, bakes treats and ... tests them on my two cats. (So far, it appears she's got the formula right - they gobble it up).

Often, businesses make the mistake of creating new products without really listening to what customers want. They are too busy trying to sell a product or trying to convince customers they need a certain widget. The reality is that customers want to buy - but the product needs to fulfil their needs.

Fortunately, Naoko is often in touch with her customers. She gets instant feedback whenever she is at a pet expo or market stall.

If your business isn't in a position where you can get this kind of regular feedback, find other ways to create a dialogue. You might be able to start a blog if you think your audience will comment on it. Alternatively, a slightly easier option is to join a relevant dialogue on someone else's blog or forum. Forums are one of the most under-rated and under-utilised forms of research out there. If you find the right one, you'll get frank opinions from people who are likely to be your target market.

Going globalAlthough Okamoto's products are available in pet stores in Sydney, she also sells at Paddington Markets. This in itself was an exercise in trial and error. Okamoto tried out a number of different markets - all attracting different types of customers - until she found the one that worked for her. Now she's a regular at Paddington.

Her plans to go global began earlier than expected. Because Paddington Market attracts its fair share of tourists, many purchase products for their pets and now re-order when they return to their country.

If you want to go global, you need to get your product in front of the right customers. But you don't necessarily need a stall at the markets to make it happen. Figure out who the key influencers are in your target country. For example, Okamoto could send samples of her product to the equivalent of celebrity vets Dr Harry or Dr Katrina Warren in another country.

Okamoto is genuinely interested in improving the health of pets and spends hours creating and testing new recipes. Innovation may start at your kitchen table, it might be driven by your customers, but the only thing that's going to take your enterprising idea to the world is your passion.

Posted
by Valerie KhooNovember 5, 2007 11:59 AM

LATEST COMMENTS

Oh! Great job!
Very good and useful post.
Thx, your blog in my Google reader now
We'll expect many new interesting posts from you ;)

Posted by: Pardized on March 30, 2008 7:14 AM

Dig the blog a LOT!
Nice style and I like the way you discuss the problems . I�m going to book mark it.
;)

Posted by: Joe Weber on December 19, 2007 7:46 AM

Well done, Naoko - there's always a niche for someone who is passionate about their offerings and who puts their customers before all other considerations!

Posted by: Grant Hyman on November 5, 2007 8:51 PM

VALERIE,

Greetings from rural Australia.

Every word is true. Every successful small business starts with passion, drive, energy and a kitchen or dining room table. And grows from there.

We got our foot in the international door when our products were sent by customers as gifts from Australia to relatives and friends overseas. 13 years later, we have products in just about every country in the world, bar third world countries like Rwanda.

If you are in the right place, a celebrity will make a purchase, and presto, you slowly get other celebrities to want what their friend bought from you.

This can be a slow way to grow, but it really is solid growth.

Publicity is also powerful and proven by someone of your stature writing about Chew Chew. How many of your readers are going to buy from Naoko Okamoto as soon as they can find a place to make a purchase?